Spring Break
In college, learning goes on outside class, too
Aaron Igdalsky
Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Commentary
It's an awfully weird feeling.
I've been having a lot of them lately: weird feelings about finishing up my last semester as an undergraduate. Weird feelings about not knowing where I'll be living in a year. Such feelings are certainly understandable at such an unprecedented time in one's life: the transition from college to "the real world" (or grad school). Moving from high school to college, in hindsight, was nothing.
Mixed emotions of anxiety about the future and eagerness for the great things to come; nostalgia for the enjoyable memories of the last few years, and hope that the next few will be even better. Those are just a few of the conflicting themes that have occupied my mind lately. And I know I'm not alone: thousands of other students on this campus, and on campuses across the nation, are experiencing the same bizarre cacophony of emotions that accompany the emotionally-charged period surrounding college graduation. With global economic uncertainty looming larger today than at any point in a generation, financial unpredictability has made an already stressful transition period that much more difficult.
I have given a great deal of thought as to how I would put together my last column here at The Daily Campus. I quickly realized that writing this column would be a struggle: how can I possibly encapsulate the last 44 months of my life into 600 words? How can I summarize countless experiences and unforgettable moments in just a short column? How can I possibly close this chapter in my life without sounding preachy and/or sappy? There is no easy answer to those questions, but the best I can do is try.
Though this is only my fifth semester at UConn, I feel just as connected to the university as any other student. That connection, and more importantly the lasting relationships and memories I have developed here in Storrs, are something I will treasure for life.
That being said, the most meaningful and important moments from my college experience did not occur in any lectures or discussion classes. College isn't about learning minutiae and data that you will forget 10 minutes after you take a final exam, but rather about acquiring and developing "big-picture" life-skills and knowledge. We pay tens of thousands of dollars and dedicate scores of hours to earn a degree that boosts our academic credentials (and ideally, our overall value in the job market), but in reality, those academic skills are of secondary importance to the life skills college helps teach. Small details, goofy moments and fond memories have conglomerated into one massive learning experience. That is what I will truly carry away from college.
I'm not saying I have no regrets. Anyone who tells you they have no regrets is lying to you and/or themselves. There are plenty of things I would have done differently if given a second opportunity and moments I would do anything to have back. But in those regrets I have learned the single most valuable lesson from college: it's not about living just in the moment, but rather taking what you can from that moment and carrying it forward. It is about learning from a process of trial and error, and applying that newfound knowledge later. Everybody makes mistakes, but smart people learn from them, move on and know better for next time. They are better, stronger people because of it.
On that note, I want to thank all of you who have read my column over the last couple of years. I hope you have had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it. Whatever your next chapter is, be it at UConn or elsewhere, I wish you all the best.
I've been having a lot of them lately: weird feelings about finishing up my last semester as an undergraduate. Weird feelings about not knowing where I'll be living in a year. Such feelings are certainly understandable at such an unprecedented time in one's life: the transition from college to "the real world" (or grad school). Moving from high school to college, in hindsight, was nothing.
Mixed emotions of anxiety about the future and eagerness for the great things to come; nostalgia for the enjoyable memories of the last few years, and hope that the next few will be even better. Those are just a few of the conflicting themes that have occupied my mind lately. And I know I'm not alone: thousands of other students on this campus, and on campuses across the nation, are experiencing the same bizarre cacophony of emotions that accompany the emotionally-charged period surrounding college graduation. With global economic uncertainty looming larger today than at any point in a generation, financial unpredictability has made an already stressful transition period that much more difficult.
I have given a great deal of thought as to how I would put together my last column here at The Daily Campus. I quickly realized that writing this column would be a struggle: how can I possibly encapsulate the last 44 months of my life into 600 words? How can I summarize countless experiences and unforgettable moments in just a short column? How can I possibly close this chapter in my life without sounding preachy and/or sappy? There is no easy answer to those questions, but the best I can do is try.
Though this is only my fifth semester at UConn, I feel just as connected to the university as any other student. That connection, and more importantly the lasting relationships and memories I have developed here in Storrs, are something I will treasure for life.
That being said, the most meaningful and important moments from my college experience did not occur in any lectures or discussion classes. College isn't about learning minutiae and data that you will forget 10 minutes after you take a final exam, but rather about acquiring and developing "big-picture" life-skills and knowledge. We pay tens of thousands of dollars and dedicate scores of hours to earn a degree that boosts our academic credentials (and ideally, our overall value in the job market), but in reality, those academic skills are of secondary importance to the life skills college helps teach. Small details, goofy moments and fond memories have conglomerated into one massive learning experience. That is what I will truly carry away from college.
I'm not saying I have no regrets. Anyone who tells you they have no regrets is lying to you and/or themselves. There are plenty of things I would have done differently if given a second opportunity and moments I would do anything to have back. But in those regrets I have learned the single most valuable lesson from college: it's not about living just in the moment, but rather taking what you can from that moment and carrying it forward. It is about learning from a process of trial and error, and applying that newfound knowledge later. Everybody makes mistakes, but smart people learn from them, move on and know better for next time. They are better, stronger people because of it.
On that note, I want to thank all of you who have read my column over the last couple of years. I hope you have had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it. Whatever your next chapter is, be it at UConn or elsewhere, I wish you all the best.
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